There are many beautiful Agathia species from SE Asia to Queensland. Agathia succedanea is found in Sumatra and Borneo. Lime green tends to predominate edged by various signs of living leaf damage. This discarded leaf appears to have 'snagged' on a mossy trunk. Agathia succedanaea is only known from highland rainforests of Sumatra Indonesia and Sabah Borneo

Living leaves in a rainforest are subject to all manner of attack by leaf pruners from leaf monkeys, caterpillars, beetles to fungi, bacteria and viruses. There are sequences of attack that form temporal trends. A sooty mould fungal theme seems to be the snapshot held by this atypical Agatha species. A. vicina extends from Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra and Borneo

Many rainforest lichens that 'patchwork' most plant surfaces are cream to white. I decide to place this Geometer moth on a contrasting darker background to emphasise its long forewings. Boston insularis occurs on Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo extending south to Java

This is a large species for its family and appears to have evolved to look like a ragged fresh bark flake unadorned by lichens. Some tree species regularly shed their bark (decortication) which makes it hard for a lichen to establish. This species occurs on Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and Sumatra

This is a large species for its Family and appears to have evolved to look like a ragged fresh bark flake unadorned by lichens.Some tree species regularly shed their bark (decortication) which makes it hard for a lichen to establish. This species occurs on Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and Sumatra

This charming little moth clearly is safest when it is settled among the complex visual mosaic presented to predators by green and white lichens. It is surprisingly widespread extending from Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Philippines, Borneo, southern Moluccas, Sulawesi east to New Guinea and north east Australia

Being a diminutive emerald and therefore a living leaf camouflage practitioner, this species is too small to be a whole leaf. So a part of a whole that has probably been detached from its parent tree by a leaf-eating mammal, probably a primate west of the Wallace line and probably a marsupial east of that line. Once the chunk fell onto foliage below a white fungus is quick to colonise the freshly tooth-trimmed edges and there appears to be evidence of a small leaf-miner caterpillar's feeding track. Comostola nereidaria extends from Borneo, southern Moluccas, Sulawesi east to New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands and north eastern Australia

Turquoise is a rare colour in terrestrial plants, fungi, lichen and animals. I suspect it is more common in marine environments. Nevertheless to be found in a small moth implies that there must be a static background on which it can camouflage. Also given its extensive range from India to the western Pacific there must be something widespread and common enough to allow the moth to make a living. The answer comes in the form of a blue-green lichen. Comostola pyrrhogona extends from India, Thailand, southern China to Taiwan, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and north east to the Moluccas, New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island and northern eastern Australia

The genus Comostola contains small and elegant, mostly jade green species that have a wide range centred on central and eastern Asia and Australasia. Most species are jade green and display minor traces of living leaf damage. This species extends from south east Siberia, Korea, north east Himalayas, south China, south east Asia extending east to Indonesia, New Guinea and north eastern Australia

Depending on the size of the leaf and the size of the mouth that bites it and how many bites it takes will affect the final snapshot view. The wings of this geometer moth show fresh bites lacking browned edges at the wingtip and an older 'stained' bite at the corner. Add a spray of sooty mould and some smaller leaf feeder radial scars and you have a design that will fool a predator more than 50% of the time. This species extends from the north east Himalayas to Borneo and Sumatra

The amount of green on this geometer moth's wings suggests it normally rests on living leaves heavily colonised by pallid lichens. Equally it may camouflage successfully on a fine-grained green-barked sapling heavily colonised by pallid lichens. The species extends from China, India, the north-eastern Himalayas, the Philippines, south to Malaysia and Indonesia

There is usually a sequence of events that affect a living leaf after bites have been taken out of it. A fresh bite allows ingress by fungi, bacteria and viral pathogens into the leaf tissue. In this case the first or dominent 'invader' appears to have been a sooty mold. This may kill the leaf and it is discarded by the parent tree or shrub. It either falls directly to the ground, or gets snagged on the way down. What is remarkable about this pattern is that the sooty mould 'wet jelly' look is faithfully reproduced

I get the feeling this moth has opted for a 'finger in two camouflage pies'. A dead and fallen lichen covered leaf with old bite marks and hints of veins; or a lichen covered bark flake still attached or discarded. This moth species ranges from Thailand to Borneo and then east to Sulawesi

This moth uses a dead yellowed leaf as a backdrop for its camouflage. It is not an uncommon colour generated by the breakdown products from green chlorophyll. Superimposed over the yellow are old feeding scars (when the leaf was green) left by a small leaf miner. These vacated mines have been subsequently colonised by a sooty mold. The species is endemic to Borneo

The snapshot story of camouflage on these wings might go like this; the green part of the leaf is barely living; the brown parts are dead. There are four edge bite marks; at the forewing tips and at the leading edge of the forewing. In addition the darkened streaks might be old feeding scars of a leaf-mining insect and two old radial feeding scars from a larger leaf miner

This fairly large geometer moth is a relatively unsophisticated dead leaf camouflage practitioner. It combines layered dead leaves with the top leaf tip bearing mould patches. My habitat experience with this species was in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia in subcoastal monsoon vine thicket. Hyposidra janiaria extends from eastern Indonesia to New Guinea and tropical Australia

I get the feeling this moth has opted for a 'finger in two camouflage pies'. It could be convincing as a dead and fallen lichen covered leaf with white mold bite marks at the forewing tip, and hints of veins; or a lichen covered bark flake still attached or discarded. Lophophelma vines extends from the Himalayas, Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra and Borneo

Diurnal adult moth activity is relatively rare as a proportion of this huge Family. This is also the same for the display of warning colours in adults and to a lesser extent in caterpillars. Milionia behave like butterflies even to the extent of attending 'salt soaks' sometimes in the form of large mammal urine puddles. Milionia basalis extends from Japan, north-eastern Himalayas, Burma to Borneo, Malaysia and western Indonesia

Diurnal adult moth activity is relatively rare as a proportion of this huge Family. This is also the same for the display of warning colours in adults and to a lesser extent in caterpillars. Milionia behave like butterflies even to the extent of attending 'salt soaks' sometimes in the form of large mammal urine puddles. This species occurs on Borneo and Java

The snapshot story of camouflage on these wings might go like this; the green part of the leaf is still living; the brown parts are dead. In addition the darkened streaks and spots might be old feeding scars from tiny sucking insects. Add some fresh white mold to the edges of the living and dead tissue and you have a convincing dying leaf

This small Tribe within the giant Geometridae are highly distinctive for three obvious reasons; forewings usually held at rest covering hindwings; palps among the most slender and elongated in Lepidoptera; tarsal (feet) of foreleg are the most slender and elongated in Lepidoptera. As to an explanation of the evolutionary benefits conferred by such extreme modifications I am unaware of that conversation. This species is endemic to Borneo

Grey lichen is normally in good supply in rainforests and they mozaic-coat both wood and rock. The so-called foliose lichens bear broad wrinkled fungal flanges that cast a fine shadow at their margins. Pingasa chlora extends from the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Moluccas to New Guinea and then south to subtropical eastern Australia

The startling genus Plutodes is dependent on the death process of a leaf. Green chlorophyll, carbohydrates, water, and salts breakdown often revealing more stable pigments called carotenoids and anthocyanins range from yellow to red (think autumn leaves). When the model leaf was green it was mined by a tiny caterpillar. You can even see its wiggly trail

The startling genus Plutodes is dependent on death process of a leaf. Green chlorophyll, carbohydrates, water, and salts breakdown often revealing more stable pigments called carotenoids and anthocyanins range from yellow to red (think autumn leaves). When the model leaf was green it was mined by a tiny caterpillar. You can even see its wiggly trail

This Pomasia species is dependent on the death of a leaf, specifically in the method combined with disease history. Green chlorophyll, carbohydrates, water, and salts breakdown often revealing more stable pigments called carotenoids and anthocyanins which range from yellow to red (think autumn leaves). In this case red is revealed and the disease history caused by 'patch feeding' by a tiny insect followed by the invasion of a sooty mold

I discounted leaf camouflage immediately as white leaves are not common in rainforests. The most likely camouflage model is however abundant in the form of delicate white to cream bracket fungi. A specialised group of insects feed on these fruiting bodies and leave scars. The brackets themselves are relatively short-lived

This is clearly a fallen dead leaf camouflage artiste. No major leaf damage evident when alive except for a fine spattering of sooty mold. The impression of raised leaf veins casting narrow shadows is well contrived considering they run at right angles to the natural wing veins

Depending on the size of the leaf and the size of the mouth that bites it and how many bites it takes will affect the final snapshot view. The wings of this geometer moth show recent nibbles with slightly browned edges at the wingtip and an older pair of 'stained' bites at the junction of fore and hind wings. Add a few splotches of sooty mold and and you have a design that will fool a predator more than 50% of the time

A young leaf is covered in pores called stomata that can open and shut. When they are open gases are exchanged (carbon dioxide in - oxygen out) and water can be transpired. During the open period ingress is possible by fungi, bacteria and viral pathogens into the leaf tissue. In this case the first or dominant 'invader' appears to have been a white mold. In time this may kill the leaf and it is discarded by the parent tree or shrub.

Some dead leaves breakdown in a chemical cascade. Green of chlorophyll breaks down revealing underlying red to yellow carotenoids and anthocyanins. These relatively stable pigments breakdown into browns generally, though sometimes a dull purplish-blue is possible. Hypothetically when the leaf was green it was bitten by a caterpillar at the tip, sliced by leaf monkey at the side and colonised by a lichen

This large diurnal geometer moth clearly demonstrates warning colours implying that it is distasteful or a mimic of a distasteful species. Its three known host plants in Australia which include lychee (introduced), freshwater mangrove (as in photo) and pink-flowered doughwood are not notable for containing poisonous chemicals in their leaves except for the latter. It is interesting to note that the doughwood is found in New Guinea though D. numana is absent, perhaps replaced by endemic New Guinea Dysphania. Also Lychee is native to southern China where members of this genus occur but do not use Lychee as a host. Dysphania numana extends from the Moluccas to northern Australia

This large diurnal geometer moth clearly demonstrates warning colours implying that it is distasteful or a mimic of a distasteful species. Its three known host plants in Australia which include lychee (introduced), freshwater mangrove (as in photo) and pink-flowered doughwood are not notable for containing poisonous chemicals in their leaves except for the latter. It is interesting to note that the doughwood is found in New Guinea though D. numana is absent, perhaps replaced by endemic New Guinea Dysphania. Also Lychee is native to southern China where members of this genus occur but do not use Lychee as a host. Dysphania numana extends from the Moluccas to northern Australia